Online map honours war dead

For cemeteries where three or fewer New Zealanders are buried, the men are named and links are provided to their service record information on the Cenotaph website. Photo / Peter Jackson

An interactive map that plots where 18,000 New Zealand soldiers who died in World War I are buried has been created for a project marking the conflict's centenary.

It shows 428 cemeteries in Western Europe, mainly in Belgium and France, where Kiwis are buried.

The map, posted on New Zealand History online, was created by historians at the Ministry for Culture and Heritage for WW100, the centenary project of New Zealand participation in the 1914-18 war.

Ten per cent of the population of one million served overseas, with 18,000 killed and more than 40,000 wounded.

For each cemetery, a pin can be clicked on, showing the number of men buried or memorialised there, with a link to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for more information.

For cemeteries where three or fewer New Zealanders are buried, the men are named and links are provided to their service record information on the Cenotaph website.

The map also remembers the unknown soldiers, whose bodies were never found, and those commemorated in memorials to the missing.

Neill Atkinson, chief historian for the ministry, said the map's interactive nature would help people to understand the war's scale.

A separate map for Gallipoli, the Middle East and North Africa is in development.